Sunday, March 8, 2020

Clarence Zebras miss out on Summer Cup Final place


Photo:  Luke Huigsloot in hot pursuit of Tyler Harrison [PlessPix]

(NPL Southern Summer Cup, KGV Park, Friday, 6 March 2020)

Glenorchy Knights 2 (N Naden 25, M Nowicki 75)
Clarence Zebras 1 (D Walsh 56)

HT:  1-0   Att:  150   Ref:  N Coad

Glenorchy Knights:  Hart  -  Bowman, Harrison, Thomas, Schmidt  -  Bellini, Muller, Castaneda  -  Naden, Nowicki, Aitken  (Subs:  Backhouse, Hallard, H Huigsloot, Kupsch, Lagu)

Clarence Zebras:  Reid  -  Parant, Cook, Dillon  -  Walsh, Thompson, Hey, Pace, Hills  -  Huigsloot, McKeown  (Subs:  Burt, Hatcher, J Jones, Stankovich, Tuyushime)

Photo:  Clarence Zebras' Jayden Hey (right) prepares to pounce on Knights' Nick Naden [PlessPix]

Clarence Zebras knew exactly what they had to do to qualify for the Summer Cup Final, but they couldn’t do it.

South Hobart had lost 2-1 to Kingborough Lions United in the curtain-raiser, so Clarence Zebras needed to beat Knights by 3 goals.

Given their performances to date, it was unlikely to happen.

Photo:  Knights' Nick Naden beats Adam McKeown to a header [PlessPix]

Knights hit the front in the 25th minute when Alex Bellini released Nick Naden on the right and he cut inside before scoring.

Dwayne Walsh equalised 11 minutes after the interval, volleying home a terrific goal after a corner.

The introduction of Ryan Backhouse provided pace down the left for Knights and it was Backhouse, a former Zebras player, who set up Knights’ winner.

Photo:  Referee Nathan Caod shows a yellow card to Knights' Jack BowmanBowman has been playing very physically and aggressively in recent games. [PlessPix]

In the 75th minute, he exposed that vulnerable right defensive flank of Clarence Zebras and took the ball to the goal-line before cutting it back for the waiting Mathew Nowicki.

Nathan Reid did well to block Nowicki’s initial shot, but Nowicki got a second chance with the loose ball and netted the winner to dash their opponents’ hopes of qualifying for the cup final.

Photo:  Clarence Zebras' keeper Nathan Reid stops a shot.  He produced a brilliant save late in the first half. [PlessPix]

2 comments:

Ange Zammit said...

Zebras need more urgency from the players like that little sub that came on after the Nowicki goal , number 8 on the live stream he came on and outhussled and robbed Backhouse and then 1 other of the ball within 5 seconds of each other , these plays win games if you can drum it into Every player in the squad . My belief is there is not enough emphasis on sitting the team down and watching replays after training these days ,my god 20 years ago we would watch it on VHS there is No excuse not too now if your serious all clubs should be recording the games .Im not talking about the zebras here but all the clubs paying good money players are asking for need to demand performance for the money

Anonymous said...

Totally agree with the comment re studying vidio replays unfortunately after training these days theres a mad dash to the carpark for selfies, regarding the lack of enthusiasm i must admit i have noticed in most games ive seen so far this year the younger players trying to establish themselves seem to be really stepping up in most teams whuch is a great sign , im tipping by mid season a fair few of the older players will be fighting to keep their spots